It's Been A Lethal Year For The Navy

October 23, 1989|By A.J. PLUNKETT Staff Writer

From Libya to Iowa to Lisbon, 1989 has been a long haul for the Navy.

"It's been - mmm - busy," said one Pentagon official.

After a year in which only nine Navy men were killed in shipboard accidents worldwide, the death toll so far in 1989 is at least 65, a figure that includes the 47 deaths aboard the battleship USS Iowa in April.

And even though the year began with airborne combat near Libya, none of the deaths occurred during hostilities.

"It is a dangerous job - weapons are dangerous, ships are dangerous. But we try to minimize it with good safety and training programs," said Lt. Cmdr. John Lloyd, a spokesman for the U.S. Atlantic Fleet's Surface Force.

The first two weeks of October were especially hectic for the Norfolk-based fleet.

On Oct. 7, three crewmen were killed as they ejected from an S-3 Viking jet just before it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, about 125 miles southeast of Norfolk.

They were the first fatalities for the Naval Air Force, Atlantic Fleet, for the year. The antisubmarine warfare jet, based in Jacksonville, Fla., apparently malfunctioned shortly after taking off from the deck of the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy.

Less than 24 hours earlier, two crewmen had escaped serious injury when their F-14 Tomcat hit a fire wall on the deck of the Kennedy. The pair were able to eject before the flaming jet fighter plunged into the sea.

On Oct. 9, a nighttime electrical fire in an elevator machinery room slightly injured 11 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal, docked at its homeport of Mayport, Fla. The carrier was preparing to lead a carrier battle group on a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean. Its departure is delayed until repairs are made.

Two days later, five Hampton Roads-based ships left in the morning for that deployment on schedule.

About 80 miles later, off the Virginia coast, men on the USS El Paso were testing the amphibious cargo ship's defensive weapons system when a projectile or shrapnel from their 20mm gun struck the bridge and deck of the nearby amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima.

A lieutenant commander standing on the bridge of the Iwo Jima was killed and a petty officer was injured.

That same day, several U.S. sailors got into a fight in a bar in Lisbon's Cais de Sodre dockside area, attracting Portuguese police who the Navy said started detaining and beating anyone "who looked American or British."

Portugese authorities said approximately 500 U.S. and British sailors got involved, though U.S. Navy officials said that number was greatly exaggerated.

As many as 175 sailors and Marines were detained by police, who blamed sailors for overturning cars and smashing windows.

The Navy blamed police for the injuries to 142 U.S. personnel from three Norfolk-based ships. Liberty for the crews of the USS Nassau, USS Shreveport and USS Barnstable was suspended for about 48 hours and then restored Friday.

The Navy's year began on a high military note. "This was a year in which our guys engaged in an actual combat situation," said one Navy spokesman.

And they won.

On Jan. 4, two U.S. F-14 jet fighters from the John F. Kennedy, then on deployment in the Mediterranean, were confronted and chased by two Libyan MiGs. After the two F-14 pilots changed speed and direction at least five times, the lead pilot determined the pair were in jeopardy and shot both MiGs down.

When the two pilots returned to the United States later that month, President Bush was on hand to meet them and made his first public address as president from the carrier USS America, docked in Norfolk.

There were other high notes as well, fleet spokesmen are quick to point out.

Perhaps the most significant achievement of the year, said one Atlantic Fleet spokesman, was the Norfolk visit of three Soviet Navy ships in July.

"That was really a big step forward in relations between the two navies, and it was well-received by the American public," said Lloyd.

The Atlantic Fleet also has gotten several new highly technical and equipped-to-the-teeth ships this year, including the dock landing ship Gunston Hall, the first multi-purpose amphibious assault ship - the USS Wasp - the submarine USS Newport News and the battleship USS Wisconsin.

In November, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, the Navy's fifth Nimitz-class carrier, is scheduled to join the fleet. The sea trials for the Lincoln, built at Newport News Shipbuilding, are "absolutely superb - best to date," said Lt. Cmdr. Mike John, spokesman for the Naval Air Force, Atlantic Fleet.

While the three recent deaths from the John F. Kennedy have marred the record, they are the only in-air fatalities this year, John said.

"That's a significant improvement in naval aviation," he said.

So far in 1989, the fleet air force has recorded only seven major, or Class A, accidents, he said. A Class A accident is one in which more than $1 million in damage is done or there is loss of life.